Dr William Edward Stevens was Kurow’s first doctor an practised in the Waitaki Valley from 1891 to
1911. This plaque recognises his home and surgery, which was designed by John Megget Forrester
and built in 1893.

This house is also where another resident doctor, Dr David McMillan, was based between 1929 and
1934, and was where he met with the Reverend Arnold Nordmeyer and Kurow School headmaster
Andrew Davidson to discuss the appalling working and living conditions and lack of worker rights
that existed in the early Waitaki hydro-electric schemes.

The ‘three wise men’ of Kurow (as they would eventually become known) would go on to develop
what would become the Social Securities Act of 1938 and the first welfare state system in the world.

• Heritage NZ Inventory - Link to be provided
• District Council Heritage - Link to be provided